


Ghost of You

by alli12345



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bullying, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Hallucinations, Hogwarts Eighth Year, Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Pining, Nudity, Pining, Suicidal Thoughts, basically drarry, but its catradora
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-16 13:22:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29083086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alli12345/pseuds/alli12345
Summary: After the War, ex Death Eater Catra is sent to Azkaban to live out her sentence. However, she keeps hallucinating Adora in her cell who comes to punish her for her crimes. Lines blur between the real Adora and the fake as she tries to get through her final year at Hogwarts.
Relationships: Adora & Catra (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 53
Kudos: 188





	1. Chapter 1

‘You again.’ Catra says, staring at the hallucination of Adora sitting outside her cell. 

Sometimes she appears as She-ra, sometimes she doesn’t. But what always stays the same is the cold dead look in her eyes, like Catra is scum on the bottom of her shiny gold shoes. 

  
How long has it been? Catra glances at her tally on the concrete wall in her tiny cramped dirty cell in Azkaban. She hopes that the dementors flying around here would just give her the Kiss already. Every single day was torture, the flesh from her bones were melting away as they starved her of any emotion besides despair.

It was a slow and torturous death, as opposed to the quick one she had desired. She knew she was going insane, as she had started hallucinating around the 3 week mark and this Adora imposter started using her own brand of personal torture. At first she had thought she was real, but of course why would the great She-Ra waste her time with a war criminal? The vile but true words seemed too out of character for the Gryffindor. 

  
Catra watches as this fake Adora steps through the bars of her cell, as she had done everyday since then and grabs her by the neck. Instead of choking her, this Adora chooses a different method and shoves her tongue down Catra’s throat, making it hard to breathe. Catra gasps against the kiss, as she is pinned to the dirty wall almost hatefully. Her skull rings at the collision, making her feel dizzy. Heat, pain and pleasure mix in her veins. 

  
‘Say it.’ Adora orders, and Catra can feel the sharp pain of her lip as the blonde bites into it. Her hair is pulled roughly from the roots, burning her scalp. She’s gone through this for weeks, so she knows the drill. 

‘I’m sorry, _I’m sorry-_ ’ Catra sobs brokenly, knowing that she won’t be released until she says it. ‘I don’t deserve to be alive.’ 

  
Her hallucination smiles and lets go of Catra, who unceremoniously falls to her knees. ‘Good kitty. Never forget that and all the people you killed.’

Catra curls into a tight ball, trembling as she tries to even out her breathing. Her claws dig into her skin. _Please, please,_ she begs to the great beyond. _Anything is preferable to this._

  
She looks at her wrists, her Dark Mark which was now covered in blood. _Her own_ , she realizes. Catra looks up, and Hallucination Adora is gone. She stares up at the prison ceiling, trying to remember what the real Adora was like. Kind. Honourable. _Good._

The real Adora had intervened in her court case months ago. 

Catra had been sitting chained to her chair, staring at the floor of the Wizengamot. The heavy metal of the enchanted chains rubbed against her worn wrists, proving it to be impossible to escape from her binds. Not that she wanted to anyway. The Supreme Court judge rustled through his paperwork and listed off her war crimes one by one. 

‘You are accused of the following counts:

Assassination of Headmaster Angella, one of the greatest witches of our time. Becoming a Death Eater and accessory for Horde Prime. For the misuse of the Time Turner and nearly destroying the fabric of reality and time. How do you plead?’

Catra’s throat was scratchy from misuse, but she managed to croak out the last word she would hopefully ever say. 

‘Guilty.’ Finally she could atone for her actions with this. Death was the only possible ending for her, after everything she had done. 

‘I see. We hereby find you guilty of these crimes and will sentence you to the Dementors Kiss.’

A bolt of fear went up Catra’s spine, the first dredges of panic on her tongue. _The Dementors Kiss?_ That was a fate worse than death, the act of having one’s soul sucked out of their body, leaving them but an empty husk- 

Catra’s breathing became laboured, she knew this is what she deserved, she could take it, she _had_ to take this punishment, Headmaster Angella probably suffered a similar fate to this-  
  


‘Stop!’ A voice shouted from the stands. Catra looked up, and to her horror, there stood Adora. Of course it was, Savior of the Wizarding World, Slayer of Horde Prime. 

  
‘I object to this sentence! Catra- she- she saved me, in the Manor when she didn’t rat me out. She got Glimmer out of Horde Prime’s clutches by nearly sacrificing her own, _she threw me her wand_ in the final duel with Prime! The whole time turner thing, it was because she was scared and wanted to undo everything, it wasn’t her fault. With Angella, Prime blackmailed her, _a minor,_ into doing it with threat to her own life!’  
  


‘I understand Miss Adora, but-’  
  


‘No _you_ listen! I saved you! I saved all of you, every single one of you in this court! You all owe me many life debts!’   
  


Catra’s eyes widen just a fraction. Adora was always so humble, she never expected her to stake her reputation to save her. What was she doing?

‘I think my word means at least something, I am She-Ra, after all.’ Adora declared, eyes blazing.   
  


The Judge sighed, and muttered something to the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.   
  


‘I hereby sentence the accused to 3 months of imprisonment in Azkaban. Case dismissed.’ He banged the gavel, and the 50 members of the high court started to pack up. 

  
Adora’s mouth hung in outrage, but his word rang final. She stared at Catra, and it burned through her (now safe) soul. Catra looked away guiltily, knowing she had gotten away with her war crimes almost scott free. She should’ve been sentenced to death, and she would’ve if it wasn’t for Adora’s interference. The guards yanked her up from her chair, and she obediently allowed herself to be shoved into the Apparition point to be taken to Azkaban. Catra didn’t look back.

\---

‘You’re now free to go.’ Her prison guard says stiffly, but Catra doesn’t move from her spot. Her sentence was finally over, but she had no desire to do anything. She simply didn’t have the strength to live on. Unfortunately she had no say in the matter, as the guards shove her onto the boat to transport her across the ocean and finally to Wizarding London.   
  


Her parole officer, Octavia- glances at the dishevelled and starved Catra in her tattered robes. 

‘Conditions to your parole. Any spells causing harm such as Unforgivables, hexes, or any curses or breaking the law will give you a one way ticket back to Azkaban. You will be enrolled back to Hogwarts for your NEWTS, a requirement you must fulfill for your parole if there is any chance of you integrating back into society and gaining employment. Understood?’  
  


Catra stares at her in dread. _Hogwarts?!_ Sweat beads on the back of her neck. She can’t go back there, not without having a dozen panic attacks. But anywhere was preferable to Azkaban.   
  


Catra nods, and Octavia leads her to a small run down studio apartment that she will remain until her enrollment. It was a small place, a small kitchen, a mattress and a bathroom all in one room. It was old and in a bad place in town, the place practically screamed unsafe. The first thing Catra does is lock the doors, manually of course as they obviously didn’t bother giving her a wand. Perhaps she was better off as a muggle. Catra clumsily turns on the tap on the sink, taking long and slow gulps. It tasted rusted and metallic on her tongue. 

Finally she finds a space behind some boxes under the staircase. She curls into a ball, hugging her knees and she stays bunched up under the staircase for days. Only the sound of her upstairs neighbours shouting at each other breaks up the silence. 

On Day 3 she realizes that she would soon starve to death as her stomach rumbles uncomfortably. 

‘Shut up.’ Catra hisses, but it continues to growl and she can’t ignore it any longer. Shakily she stands up, her legs numb from being unused for so long. There was nothing in the fridge, meaning she would have to venture outside. Not that she had any money of course, but perhaps she could steal- Catra shook her head. That would break parole. She’d have to go find a homeless shelter somewhere, or loot around one of those industrial bins outside of the restaurants. 

Light blinded her eyes as she emerged into Diagon Alley. She squinted at the harsh daylight sun, and when her vision finally focused she regretted her decision immensely. Catra felt almost instantly claustrophobic from the crowds of witches and wizards swarming the streets. Their gazes shifted from surprise to hatred as they recognized who she was and her role in the War.

‘It’s Catra!’ 

‘You should be rotting in Azkaban! Someone get her!’

‘Death Eater scum!’ 

Catra bolted, scrambling to the back alleyways. She zig zags and runs and turns corners until the crowd is long gone, her breath coming out in quick pants. She squeezes her eyes shut, forcing the tears down. This was no time to cry. Catra was a coward, she always knew it. That’s why she had sided with Hordak and Prime, always to save her own skin at the expense of others. These survival instincts that she could not choke down forced her to wander down the dark alleyways until she had found what she was looking for. 

Catra heaves open the steel lid of the industrial bin, clambering and rifling through the big black bags that reeked and overpowered her senses. Of course she had been degraded to the point she had to eat literal garbage, but this was preferable to the crowds that would definitely destroy her if she dared to set foot in a homeless shelter. 

Catra tears open the bags, eyes on the prize as she unveils a bag of bread and donuts that had been thrown out by the bakery at the end of the day. They smelled a bit off, but she dusted them off and crammed them into her mouth. Catra grabs as much as her arms can carry, and stumbles out into the street. Suddenly she realizes she was quite lost, looking back and forth frantically to try to retrace her steps.

Unfortunately for her, this meant entering the busy streets of Diagon Alley. Her breathing goes shallow again, another painted target on her back from all of Wizarding Britain. Catra decides to run for it, blindly shoving her way through the shouts of the people.

She slams into someone, spilling her donuts onto the cobblestones. Frantically she tries to sweep them back into her arms, not bothering to look up.

‘Catra?’

_Adora._

The real one, in fact. Of course the blonde had to be here, while Catra was at her worst. She realizes what she must look like, skinny and malnourished in rags, her hair bushy and covered in the scent of garbage. Not to mention holding a handful of dirt covered donuts that had fallen on the ground. Mortification paralyzes her body, as she gaped at her...childhood friend turned enemy turned what, exactly? Adora looked almost ethereal, every bit the legend of She-Ra. She looked so glowy, compared to her hallucinations. 

‘Catra, I was looking for you. I knew your parole ended, but I didn’t know where you went, but I heard from the nice people here you were seen in Diagon Alley.’

Right. The nice people calling for her imprisonment. Adora offers a hand to help her up.

‘I’m fine.’ Catra answers, throat scratchy. She gets up without Adora’s help, dropping the donuts back onto the floor. She could go a few more days without eating if it saved her the embarrassment of being seen with them in front of Adora. 

‘You didn’t want those-’ The blonde looks at the mess on the ground. 

‘No.’ 

Adora nods, looking awkward. ‘I uh, wanted to return your wand.’ She says bashfully. ‘Thank you for lending it to me, it- it was useful.’

Catra stares blankly at the wand used to defeat Horde Prime. Reluctantly she takes it, and tucks it into the sleeves of her robe.

‘You look- um.’ Adora blushes, and Catra feels the urge to smack her. Of course no one would look good after being imprisoned in Azkaban. She vows to clean herself up after this meeting, transfigure some robes or something, upset that she had to subject Adora to this sight of her. 

  
‘So- um, I was wondering.’ Adora continues, oblivious to the crowd that was forming around her. Catra’s eyes dart around looking for an escape route. ‘Are you returning to Hogwarts? Because I-’  
  


‘I will. Be returning to Hogwarts.’ Catra grits out. She finally remembered the route back to her apartment, planning her escape in her head.   
  


‘Oh! Me too! After taking the year off to hunt Horcruxes, I realized I haven’t even graduated high school! So I was thinking, we could go together-’  
  


‘Uhuh. I need to go. Bye.’ Catra replies, making her exit by ducking through the maze of legs blocking her path. She leaves the stunned Gryffindor gaping at her, as she bolts back to her apartment.  
  


And if the hallucination of Adora came to torture Catra that night as if alerted by their meeting, she would never know.

\-----

The train to Hogwarts was another social anxiety filled event Catra did not want to go through. 

Each carriage was already full with students, all laughing and talking and excited to start the new school year. Hogwarts had been fully restored that summer by the Professors and the strongest Wizarding kind had to offer, welcoming the return of the 8th years to finish their education.

Catra glances around nervously, searching for an empty carriage she could sit in. Her breath putters out when she spots Scorpia, laughing with Frosta in one of them. Catra was so awful to her in the War, nothing she could ever do could atone for her actions. Scorpia had switched sides at the right time, not like Catra. She remembers screaming at Scorpia, pushing her away as she had to carry on Horde Prime’s task to kill Angella at all cost. 

Now she had no one, and if she could go back and do it all again she would’ve just died in her place. 

Catra thinks about penning apology notes, but what would she even say? Sorry for being an evil blood supremacist Death Eater? Sorry about your friends deaths? Sorry for even being here and having my presence as a horrific reminder of said deaths? It’s not all bad, at least you can see Thestrals now?   
  


Suddenly she catches a flash of blonde hair in a ponytail, asking around if anyone had seen Catra.   
  


Catra ducks behind the corridor, until she reaches the very end of the train. 

She settles for hiding between the spaces in the luggage compartment, the cases bumping her back and forth in a steady rhythm until she falls asleep. 

She can't dodge Adora forever, but she damn will try. 

\---

  
  


Adora spots Catra at the Great Hall, sitting at the Slytherin table away from the rest of her house. Catra looked better than she had in Diagon Alley, her hair had been cropped to a pixie cut and her robes repaired so it bunched nicely at her waist. She was still skinny, but not as malnourished as she had been. Adora felt guilty for making Catra abandon her food back there, but was glad she seemed a bit more filled out now.   
  


It felt so strange, having this silent defeated version of Catra sitting alone by herself instead of with Entrapta and Scorpia. Adora wishes they could go back to the old days, with their Quidditch rivalry and competing for the better grades. She'd even go back to the time when she got shot down asking Catra to the Yule Ball, and the brunette had haughtily gone with Scorpia to rub it in her face. 

'I wanna go talk to her.' Adora says to Glimmer, who grabs the sleeve of her robe.  
  


'Sit back down Adora!' Glimmer chastises.   
  


'She looks so lonely though.' 

  
'I know. But maybe she deserves it, after what happened with my mother.' Glimmer grits out.   
  


'Catra she, she saved your _life_ in the Manor!' 

'Swift Wind did most of the work-'   
  


'Stop arguing, you two.' Bow groans, stuffing one of the buns from the banquet into Glimmer's mouth. 'Adora's always had an unhealthy obsession with Catra, this isn't anything new.' 

  
‘She won’t even look at me!’ Adora complains, stabbing her croissant with her fork. ‘Besides, I talked to Octavia about taking over her parole duties, so this is very well justified, thank you very much.’  
  


‘Are you sure you didn’t just do that so you can get closer to your decade long crush?’ Bow replies, eyebrow raised. ‘Abuse of power?’  
  


‘No!’ Adora blushes, vehemently denying the accusation. ‘Absolutely not...’   
  


Adora looks back to the Slytherin table to check they hadn’t been overhead, but Catra is long gone, her plate untouched. 

\----

Catra haughtily tries to keep her chin up, pushing down her fear as she walks down the corridors. She wishes she could just cast Cave Inimicum, but if she had simply disappeared from view they definitely would think she escaped from Hogwarts and broken her parole. 

  
Their Professor, now Headmaster Castaspella, catches her in the corridor. 'No students to be out after hours.' She scolds. 'Please head back to your dormitory.'   
  


Catra hadn’t meant to sneak out from dinner, but when she overheard Glimmer, she had to leave to get fresh air. She had wanted to avoid any crowds, so she had wandered the castle until night set in. 

Catra nods meekly, and starts heading to the Slytherin common room. 

  
'Where are you going?’ Castaspella calls out. ‘The 8th years will be sharing a dorm.’ 

Catra freezes. 'I can't share a room with-' 

'You don't have a choice, young one. We teachers agreed that we want to promote interhouse reconciliation this year and repair bonds broken by this War.'

_Ah, so they don't want me hanging out with Slytherins thinking I'll stage a coup of some kind_ , Catra thinks. 

'Since Adora testified for you on your trial, we thought it would be best if she could keep a close eye on you. Something like a substitute parole officer. So you won't be up to any late night activities, that unfortunately led to my sister's…Anyway, you should head off.' Castaspella says coldly. 

_Oh_. 

Catra bows guiltily, biting her lip. 'Yes, Headmaster.' 

Seemed like everyone wanted her gone, but only because the Saviour of the Wizarding World saved her she was spared. Of course Adora got some bullshit legal reason to stalk her everywhere and as usual Catra was powerless to stop her. 

\---

The 8th year dorms are quiet. It was different from the Slytherin common room with the Great Lake's shimmering reflections illuminating the dungeons. This was far cozier, with all four house banners decorating the walls. There was a fire flickering in the fireplace and 8 poster beds, their curtains spelled shut as their occupants slept. 

Catra gingerly makes her way to the unoccupied bed, sitting on the satin sheets. She was so used to the concrete of her cell or the wooden floor of her apartment that she didn’t expect it to be this soft. Catra gets out her hawthorn wand, and whispers in the dark. 

‘ _Salvio Hexia._ _Colloportus_.’

  
The curtains swing shut, locking herself away from anyone who would try to harm her in her sleep. Catra tries to wrack her brain for more protective charms she was legally allowed to do, but before she could a voice from the foot of her poster bed gets her attention.   
  


Of course. How could she forget. Not like anything she did would work against hallucinations.  
  


‘Waiting for your punishment, kitten?’ Adora mocks, climbing onto the bed. Her palm slides against Catra’s until their fingers intertwine. ‘So needy. But I won’t forgive you.’ The apparition pushes her down onto the mattress, pinning Catra’s wrists above her head. Her grip is so tight that her hawthorn wand drops from her hand. 

  
‘Adora, _please_.’ She struggles against the bind, like an enchantment she couldn’t break. Could hallucinations even perform magic? 'You shouldn't be here.'   
  


‘Come on. You know what to do.’   
  


Catra reluctantly nods, and the charm is lifted enough for her to grab Adora and pull her down with her. Their lips meet, all tongues and teeth. The Gryffindor’s breath was surprisingly hot, as opposed to the almost Dementor-like kiss they shared in the prison cell. She squeezes her eyes shut, not wanting to see the cold eyes that despised her.  
  


‘So desperate to defile me, the _pure and good_ She-Ra?’ Adora's voice croons, ‘Such Death Eater filth, eating garbage off the ground like an animal! So pathetic.’ 

Catra gasps out apologies like a mantra, clinging hard onto the other girl’s shoulder. 

‘I’m sorry, _I’m sorry-’_

\-----

‘Catra?’ 

Adora could hear her talking to someone, from behind the drapes of her poster bed. The Slytherin had not bothered casting a Muffliato. She can hear a sob and a gasp coming from the other girl, and Adora jumps off her bed to investigate. Did Catra bring someone over? A flare of jealousy spikes in her gut. _Not on my watch_ , she thinks, getting out her wand. 

_‘Finite Incantatem!’_ Adora throws the curtains open.

Catra from her place in the bed thrashes blindly, eyes unseeing, tear tracks running down her face. Her sheets were rumpled at her feet, her legs tangled in them. The brunette’s arms were criss crossed above her head, and she seemed to be struggling against something. However she seems to be alone, perhaps having a nightmare. 

'Mn…Adora?'   
  


‘Catra, I’m here. Are you okay?’ Adora asks worriedly, looking for signs of the other being hurt. Catra shakes her head.   
  


Adora doesn't want the others to be woken up and see Catra like this, so she quickly casts the silencing spell around their shared space.   
  


'Hey, Adora…'   
  


Suddenly she is yanked down into a wet kiss. Adora’s brain malfunctions, an instantaneous blush erupts onto her face. Catra deepens the kiss, and Adora can’t help but kiss back, heart leaping and soaring into the atmosphere. _They were kissing! The fickle, cold, beautiful Catra she had pined over for years was embracing her-  
  
_

‘I’m sorry.’ Catra murmurs brokenly. ‘For not being dead.’   
  


Adora’s blood turns to ice. _What…_

 _  
‘_ Catra? Catra, wake up!’ 

She doesn’t, Catra just keeps sobbing in that shattered voice of hers.   
  


Adora looks at her trembling form helplessly. Not knowing what else to do, she grabs her small form and pulls her into a hug. She starts to stroke her hair, whispering a melody of comforting words to try to drown out the competing voices in Catra's mind.   
  


'You're okay. You're safe. I'm here.' Adora repeats, and Catra noses her face into her shoulder. Her sobs turn into small sniffs against her chest. Eventually Catra calms down, her eyelashes fluttering shut. Catra’s breathing finally evens out, as she stumbles back into unconsciousness. Her hair is splayed out like a halo on the pillow, her lips and cheeks still wet.   
  


Adora looks at the sleeping figure in her arms, completely lost. 

_What just happened?_

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

When Catra woke up that morning, she felt surprisingly well rested. She hasn't had a good night's sleep in a long time, usually it was interrupted from nightmares or explosions in her head startling her awake.

Glancing around the room, she seemed to be the first one awake. Adora's curtains were closed, and a soft snoring could be heard within. Quietly she jumps off the bed, padding lightly through the common room.

It was a weekend, so there was no class today. It was nice and sunny out, the last of the morning dew evaporating.  
Catra yawned, looking forward to an early breakfast before the Great Hall would be packed by students.

She wanders the corridors, trying to recall what had put her in such a good mood. Perhaps it was the dredges of the dream she had last night, that made her feel so reassured and safe.

‘Found her!’

_Ah, shit._

A group of students- Gryffindors? Had their wands out, pointing straight at her. Their faces were blurred by the Disillusionment Charm, so she couldn’t identify them.

Catra gets out her wand, but realizes she was already outnumbered 3 to 1.

‘What are you waiting for? Go ahead, cast a curse! You’ll be thrown right back to Azkaban!’

She starts sprinting to god knows where, ducking and weaving and trying to dodge the hexes they threw at her retreating back. One hits her, and a scalding burning sensation sizzles her flesh.

‘Protego!’ An invisible shield forms behind her, but they yell out the counter-charm and shatter it.  
God what was the point of having spells when they could be undone so easily?

'Corner her in the dungeon!'

Catra scrambles to get away, but even she could see she was cornered like a rat. One of the girls in the group locks the heavy iron door behind them.

Catra attempts to cast another protection spell. ‘Salvio He-’

‘Expelliarmus!’

Catra’s wand flies across the room, clattering somewhere in the corners of the dungeon. She is thrown to the ground, and the group takes turns kicking her in the stomach.

One of the taller boys grips her hair, hissing in her ear. 'Death Eater filth! You know my brother died in the battle of Hogwarts. Yet you have the audacity to return when he didn't!'

_Kick._

Catra takes another blow to the ribs. Another hex hits her back, a sharp burning sensation. A slashing motion opens the wounds on her shoulder blades. Blood seeps out onto her robes.

'I'm sorry-'

_Kick._

They continue to cast curses at her until Catra finally stills, unmoving. She can hear one of the students spit on her before leaving.

Catra slowly opens her eyes, and it's Fake Adora again.

'Get up.' Her hallucination says callously.

Catra stiffly pushes herself off the floor. The black robes did well to hide the bloodstains. She props herself against the wall, breathing shallowly.

'Could you come back another time?' Catra says tightly. 'Or at least until I've cleaned myself up?' She didn't think she could take more than this right now.

Adora looks at her, unimpressed. 'You'll pay for that later, you know.'

'I know.'

\----

Catra pushes open the door to the hospital wing. Madam Razz doesn’t see her, flitting from each patient to the next. Both young and old patients were there, a stark contrast from the usual student medical bay.

Catra realizes that the people in the beds were ongoing treatment for permanent injuries during the Battle of Hogwarts. St Mungos was probably filled to the brim with people, and it made sense that Madam Razz would be flat out. Right now was probably the busiest time period of her decades long career as a Healer.

Catra’s injuries felt insignificant in contrast. All these people had it way worse than her and she was on the side that was trying to kill them. She was the one who let the Death Eaters into Hogwarts. Yet she was the one walking free.

The upstairs girl’s bathroom seemed to be one way to get some privacy.

Catra retreats to the bathroom, trying to reach the injuries on her back. She struggles to make the proper wand movements, recanting ‘Episkey’ and ‘Vulnera Sanentur’ over and over to no avail. She could only cast healing charms on places that she could see and her wand could reach. Catra only manages to heal the bruises on her ribs, her spellwork shoddy from her trembling hands.

‘Stupid wand! Stupid Madam Razz!’ Catra hisses, before giving up and flinging her wand into the sink.

Perhaps she could sneak some Dittany from the Potions store cupboards. And some Dreamless Sleep while she was at it. Did stealing potions break the rules of her parole?

She flattens her hair in the mirror, splashing the water over her face to wipe the remnants of spit off.

Obviously she’d have to ask a teacher, but then they would ask questions. She doubted they would, not after she had accidentally poisoned Bow with spiked mead in her botched assassination attempt on Angella.

Catra resolves to just wait for it to heal by itself. Witches and wizards always wanted to solve things instantaneously, but perhaps she should take a page out of the Muggle book and leave things to her immune system. See, she was opening up her mind to them! Perhaps after graduation, she could finally leave to join the Muggle world where everyone didn’t already despise her. She could almost laugh at the irony. Joining Prime’s side for ethnic cleansing only to join the non magical world? Just kidding. She doubted she’d survive this year at all.

Catra steps back into the corridors, but with her luck Adora spots her. She stifles a groan, why is it that Adora has to try to have her under her surveillance 24/7? Catra increases her pace to a brisk walk, determined to head back to the dormitory.

‘Hey Catra! There you are!’ Adora pants, sprinting to catch up with her. ‘I wanted to talk to you.’

Of course she did. Real and fake Adora made a great tag team to harass her in shifts. She reluctantly slows down and blinks up at her through her eyelashes.

‘Yeah?’

‘Um…’ Adora looks caught off guard, a pink hue spreading to her cheeks. They look surprisingly soft.  
‘About the other night…’ Adora bites her lip, unsure how to breach the topic. ‘You were upset, and you…I mean we did some things..’

Catra has no idea what she’s talking about. She was always careful to come into the dorms only when everyone was already asleep, and to leave before sunrise. When she was there, she had cast Disillusionment charms and security spells.

‘I think you got the wrong person.’ Catra says politely. ‘This is the first time we’ve spoken since Diagon Alley.’ Not that it was a good memory for either of them.

Disappointment and shock flickers over the blonde’s pretty face. ‘No, I’m quite certain-’

Catra shakes her head, and turns to leave before she embarasses herself in front of Adora again.

‘Wait!’ Adora grabs her shoulder, which makes Catra flinch back in pain. _Shit, that hurt!_

The Gryffindor lets go, startled by her reaction but quickly recovers. ‘I was wondering if...Do...do you want to study with me in the library?’

Catra gives her a blank stare.

‘I-I mean it won’t just be us two! Bow and Glimmer will be there too, so it’s not like we’re alone, unless you want to be-’

Catra couldn’t think of anything that she wanted to do less than that. She would prefer to just lay in her bed for a solid few weeks. If her grades plummeted to oblivion, so be it. Plus Glimmer was one hair's breadth from slamming her face into the library desk, probably.

‘Um, not really.’ Catra tries to let her down easy. ‘I was just gonna go sleep. Thanks.’

Adora cocks an eyebrow. ‘It's 5pm?’

'I'm not up to anything, I swear.'

Adora doesn't look convinced.

Catra blows a puff of air to the loose strand of hair in her face. 'Napping isn't against my parole is it? See you around, Officer.'

Adora watches her scamper off. Damn, did she really get blown off for a nap? Adora groans. Catra probably remembered the whole kissing thing but came to her senses in the morning. Wait, asking her to study with Glimmer with their whole history was an awful first date idea.

_Stupid! I should’ve asked her out to Hogsmeade, or a Quidditch game. Why did I have to fumble it!_

\-----

Catra shouldn’t have slept so early. Now it was 11pm, and she was starving, having missed dinner.

She sneaks off to the kitchens to grab a bite. The kitchen elves shoot her a withering look, and drop a small piece of stale bread into her hands. They slam the portrait closed in her face.

This was alright. At least she knew this hadn’t been in a dumpster. Catra picks the mould off it as she heads back up the staircases. She almost makes it to the dorms before she is violently dragged by the wrist by force.

It’s fake Adora again, here to collect her debts.

‘Where are you taking me?’ Catra asks.

‘Where do you think?’

As they get closer to their destination, Catra realizes with a dawning feeling where they were as they make their way up the spiralling staircase.

The Astronomy Tower. Her breathing gets shallow as the beginnings of a panic attack occur. Vivid flashbacks and voices assault her mind.

‘You don’t have to do this.’ Angella says calmly. ‘I know you’re not a bad person, Catra. I can help.’

‘You don’t understand! I have to do this. Or he’s gonna kill me!’ It’s her own voice, begging on the verge of tears. She wrenches up her sleeve to reveal the Dark Mark, branded on her wrist.

‘Stand back.’ A figure dressed in black and red forces Catra to step aside.

‘Shadow Weaver, please.’ Angella pleads.

_‘Avada Kedavra!’_

Green light, then nothing.

Adora bites into her neck and sucks, leaving Catra gasping for air. She trembles from the sensation. Her mouth is invaded by her tongue, kissing Catra viciously. Adora moves back down to her collarbones, leaving biting marks.

Fake Adora lifts her wand into the air above her head.

'Honorem grayskull!'  
There's a flash of light, and it's She-Ra in all her glory. She emanates a harsh golden glow in the darkness.

She-Ra forcefully grabs her by her Slytherin necktie, forcing her backwards to the window. In this form she's almost double her height and Catra is powerless to stop her.

The drop is steep to the Cloisters below. The only thing stopping her from falling to get death is the green and white strip of fabric almost acting as a noose.

'Do you think Angella enjoyed the view from up here?' She-Ra muses.

'Are you going to kill me?'

'What, you don't think you deserve it?'

Catra scrabbles at her neck, struggling for air. Her body's survival instinct kicks in, despite her wanting nothing more than to give up. The cold night's breeze hits her face as she hangs in the precipice.

'What about Entrapta?'

Every horrible memory she had surged back, of what she had done to her and Hordak and Stupefying her to keep her silence. How she had lived in the cellars of the Manor with the other Muggle prisoners until Adora and her friends got her out.  
The rip in space and time from the broken Time Turner.

'I…' There was no excuses. Catra stops struggling. She should've just taken the punishment earlier in the dungeon.

'What about Shadow Weaver, dying in the Room of Requirement from the Fiendfyre? At least she redeemed herself in the end.'

Catra's hands go limp, falling at her sides.  
She-Ra removes her iron grip on her tie before catching it again, and Catra slips down a fraction.

'Or when you crushed Hordak under the rubble? I could go on forever you know!' She-Ra laughs mockingly. 'Can you think of a single reason why you're here that doesn't involve me sparing you?'

'N-no…'

'Yet you ignore me.' She-Ra lets go of the tie again for a fraction of a second, her fingers nearly reaching the end of the emerald fabric.

'I'm sorry.'

'Are you? I haven't even gotten to Scorpia, Kyle and Lonnie yet!'

'Just do it. Please.'

She-Ra frowns. 'Aight.' She lets go.

Catra closes her eyes, waiting for the falling sensation. Suddenly, she is unfortunately yanked back to reality by the end of her robes.

‘What are you doing!?’

Catra blinks, a mixture of relief and confusion at being alive. Pinpricks of light dance across her vision, her blood thrumming in her veins. She touches her neck, the pain there had dissipated.

It was Adora. The real one of course. Her blue eyes were huge, looking at her like she was one second from freaking out.  
Catra scrambles for an answer doesn't make her sound insane.

_God. Long story. I was being tortured and hung out the window by She-Ra. Not you, just the imaginary one that makes me do derogatory sexual acts-_

A bit too honest.

_I was trying to kill myself and failing, can't you see? Now buzz off!_

Nope. If she told her that Adora would become a thousand times more annoying. That guileless Gryffindor would go full suicide watch mode and have her admitted to Saint Mungo's Asylum For Crazy People. And she was not crazy.

‘Getting fresh air.’ Catra finally answers. Brilliant.

‘From hanging out of the window?!’

‘Yeah. The- the castle has this awful stench.'

 _From the dead bodies_.

'F-From the sweat! A lot more students this year. Anyway, how did you find me?’

Adora looks away, embarrassed. ‘Marauders Map.’

Catra frowns. ‘Is that how you’ve been tracking me?’

‘Sorry! I didn’t mean to stalk you or make you feel like you’re being surveillanced- I mean-I was just worried, um- I can go-’ Adora’s face is turning an odd shade of purple from the amount of excuses she was spilling.

'No, stay.' _Before She-Ra comes back._

Catra smooths out her rumpled robes, wincing in pain as the injuries from that morning resurfaced. She tries to play it off, but it just makes her look more guilty.

‘Wait, you’re hurt.’ Adora frowns. ‘Come here.’

The command almost makes Catra fall to her knees from reflex of dealing with her other, but at the last second realizes who she was talking to. This Adora wouldn’t hurt her, would she?

‘I’m fine.'

‘Catra. Show me.’

The brunette falters. Was she angry? Adora was her substitute parole officer after all. She could send her back to Azkaban at any time. She couldn’t risk it.

Catra reluctantly pads over, and obediently drops in the space between Adora’s legs, back to her. She starts to take off her robes, dropping it to the floor and unbuttoning her white dress shirt.

‘W-What are you doing-’ Adora stammers.

The shirt hangs off her shoulders, just enough to show the burns and bruises and slash marks on her back. Dried blood stained the snowy white of her uniform.

Adora’s voice putters out to silence. It’s quiet.

‘Who did this.’ Her voice sounds cold.

Catra flinches. Their voices sound exactly the same.

‘I don’t know. I’m sorry.’ Catra says automatically, her trembling hands cupped together in a prayer to her mouth. She doesn’t turn around, fearful that if she does those cold eyes would be staring back at her to finish the job.

‘Hey. You don’t need to apologize.’ Adora says gently. She can hear the rustle of her wand being taken out.

Catra flinches, turning around in blind panic. Stop!

‘Hey it's ok! I’m just healing you.’ Adora starts reciting a few different healing charms, and suddenly the injuries on her back start knitting themselves together, the pain clearing like it was never there. She casts a cleaning spell, and her robes and uniform clear of dried blood.

Catra feels Adora’s finger trace the spot between her shoulder blades, feeling her now smooth back. It makes her shiver.

She breaks the silence. ‘You didn't have to do that. At the trial, too.'

'Catra, they were going to take your soul.'

'I know. I was there.' She rolls her eyes.

'I shouldn't have let them take you away like that. 3 months is too long to be in there.'

'I’m fine.'

'You keep repeating that when you're not.’ She looks frustrated. ‘Are the other students doing this to you? We were supposed to have inter-house unity.’ Adora says, despondent.

Catra lets out an amused laugh. Of course Adora would be worried about things like that.  
She leans back into the warmth of Adora’s torso. ‘Thanks.’ She murmurs.

‘You don’t have to go through this alone, you know. I’ll always be here.’

Catra stares at the ceiling. Instead of comforting her, that statement chilled her to the bone.

‘I know.’

Adora pokes her in the cheek, jolting her out of her reverie.

‘I’m serious you know! Anyway, I was thinking...we should start over. Forget the past and all.’

Catra turns to look at her with apprehension. ‘Sure I guess you can forget.’

‘I meant,’ Adora stumbles. ‘I don’t want to be your rival, or your enemy or your jailer.’

‘Then what do you want?’ Catra eyes her skeptically. Adora blushes, all the way to the tip of her ears.

‘Um.’ She looks around nervously, unable to meet Catra’s gaze. Adora glances down at Catra’s exposed front, and she quickly starts rebuttoning the front of Catra’s shirt. The brunette looks at her, bemused. Adora shakes her head as if to clear it.

‘Let's be friends! I want to support you.’

Now this was a strange turn of events. ‘What about Bow and Glimmer?’

Adora laughs. ‘Well since they got together, they’ve been PDA-ing all over the place. Third wheeling hard, ya know?’

Catra couldn’t relate. She didn’t have any friends.

‘So what do you say?’ Adora cocks her head to the side. Those ocean blue eyes were sparkling with hope, and it was hard to look directly at her, like if you tried to stare at the sun.

It was weird, like talking to a legend out of a history textbook. Like if Jesus came down and asked Satan to be personal friends.

‘Um...Okay?’ Not like she could deny any requests made by the Savior herself.

Adora’s smile was blinding. She clasps Catra’s hands in hers, almost jittery with excitement.

‘You won’t regret it!’

She was already regretting it. ‘Right.’

Adora grins, and they head back to the common room together, side by side.


	3. Chapter 3

‘In honour of Valentines Day, we’re making the Amortentia potion. Can anyone tell me what it does?’ Castaspella announces to the class. 

Catra stays silent, despite knowing the answer. She hopes they wouldn’t be graded on class participation.

Entrapta bolts up from her seat in excitement. ‘It’s a love potion! The scent it gives off differs to each person depending on what attracts them.’

‘Excellent! 3 points to Ravenclaw.’ 

A shock of blonde hair blocks Catra’s peripheral vision. ‘Hey! Want to be my potions partner?’ Adora asks. 

‘Um.’ Catra looks around helplessly, but everyone else was avoiding eye contact with her. There was no chance she was getting someone else to be her partner. ‘Okay.’

‘Great! I’m so glad I caught you today, I wanted to give you something…’ Adora turns around to rustle through her knapsack. 

Catra tunes out her droning, settling for reading the recipe ingredients and walking across the classroom. She needed to be first to get the good quality ingredients before they were all taken. If she was going to graduate with her NEWTS and have any chance of getting a job that would hire an Ex Death Eater, her grades were going to have to be better than an Exceeds Expectations. Catra rolls her eyes, Adora could probably cruise on her name alone and get the top Auror position with only Troll grades. 

Catra picks up the ingredients from the storeroom cupboard, dumping the peppermint, pearl dust, moonstone and Ashwinder eggs onto the shared desk. She sets up the base liquid, stirring it until it makes way to a smooth texture. 

Adora looks up, and thrusts a single ruby red rose into Catra’s face with a blinding smile. It looked velvety soft, and larger than usual roses that she’s seen before. It sparkled gold on the edges. Catra looks at the flower, then back at Adora’s expectant face. 

‘It’s for you.’ The Savior says brightly.

Catra stares at it blankly, until realization hits her. Her clouded expression clears.

‘Oh great. Thanks.’

Adora’s smile could’ve blinded out the sun, she was practically glowing in delight. ‘I’m so glad-’ 

Catra takes the rose and strips it of its petals in one swift motion, tossing it into the cauldron. With deft fingers she cuts the thorns off and looks up only to see Adora’s face contorted in shock and horror. Like a kicked puppy.

‘What?’ Catra asks, frowning. She drops exactly six thorns into the cauldron and gives it a good mix counter-clockwise. ‘Are you just gonna stare or are you gonna actually help?’

‘Um. That wasn’t…’ Adora points helplessly at the stripped stem. Her expression made it look like the world was ending. 

‘I got the other ingredients, picking up the ones I forgot was the least you could do.’ Catra frowns. ‘Make yourself useful and grind the moonstone.’

‘Right…’ Adora dejectedly goes to crush the stone with the pestle. She sprinkles in the pearl dust and moonstone into the cauldron. As she goes to take the knife to cut up the peppermint, Catra sighs and puts her hand over Adora’s which makes her startle. 

‘You’re doing it wrong.’ Catra says exasperatedly, taking the knife away. ‘You don’t just dice it like a savage.’ She picks up the peppermint leaves and squeezes it, the emerald liquid dropping into the pot. It turns a light sky blue, with swirls of rose pink. 

‘Wow.’ Adora looks at it in awe. ‘You’re so good. How did you know that?’

Catra glances at her wryly. ‘Maybe if you studied, you’d know too.’

Adora laughs at that, and something in Catra’s chest gives a little. It had been a long time since she had brought anyone that look on their face. 

After half an hour of Catra’s strict instruction and meticulous measuring, grinding and cutting, the potion gives a stunning mother-of-pearl sheen. 

Catra takes a step back from the cauldron. ‘Time to check if it works. You go.’

‘Me?’ Adora says in surprise. She looks nervously to the potion then back to Catra. ‘Umm-’

At Catra’s raised eyebrow, Adora reluctantly takes a sniff from the spiralling steam. 

‘I smell...Steamed buns, freshly mown grass, and um, ...donuts.’ Adora flushes red at the admission, like she had given away state secrets.

Not that she had any that Catra didn’t already know, they had been best friends as children before the Hogwarts sorting. Adora promised she would beg the Sorting Hat to put her in Slytherin, but promises were always made to be broken.

‘So um, what do you smell?’ Adora asks eagerly. 

Catra’s lips thin. ‘I don't smell anything.’ 

Adora almost looks disappointed. ‘What? That’s impossible. Did we do the potion wrong?’

Catra rubs a hand down her face. ‘No, it’s perfect. I just don’t...’ 

Catra doesn’t know how to explain it to the blonde. During the War, she just didn’t find enjoyment in anything anymore. _All the love I used to have inside of me is gone,_ she wanted to say. When she was with Horde Prime in the Manor, the only thing that she was focused on was survival. It was the same in Azkaban and in her probation Ministry apartment. 

‘My goodness Adora, this Amortentia is brewed splendidly!’ Professor Castaspella walks over to admire their work. She inhales and smiles in delight. ‘10 points to Gryffindor!’ 

Adora looks caught off guard. ‘Um, thanks but-’

‘My, if you weren’t going to be an Auror I would have pegged you down as a Potions master!’ Castaspella gushes, ignoring Catra completely. ‘Everyone come here and take a look at how it should look, Adora’s brewed the most perfect Amortentia I’ve ever seen!’ 

The other students shuffle around to admire the Amortentia. They roughly push Catra aside in their rush to crowd around the cauldron. They start excitedly discussing the smells that came from the potion, and fawn over Adora’s supposed skills, asking her for tips.

This scene was familiar. 

Catra sweeps her textbooks into her book bag, pushing down the terrible feelings of jealousy of the preferential treatment. She had gone through Azkaban, what was she doing feeling upset over something like this? Catra slings her bag over her shoulder and goes to make her way out of the classroom. Even so, it was unfair. Why did she even bother to try to get good grades if Adora was just going to take all the credit? Is that why Adora asked her to be her potions partner? 

‘Catra!’ Adora calls out. ‘Wait up!’

Catra turns, glaring at her. ‘What.’

Adora pants, catching her breath. ‘Um, sorry about Castaspella. I explained to her that you did most of it.’ Adora had the decency to look contrite. ‘That wasn’t fair on you.’

Catra pauses, her tight fists unfurling. 

Adora ploughs on. ‘I was wondering if you and I could well...play a Quidditch match together like old times?’

Catra feels her breath catch in her throat. Being on a broom, it reminded her too much of the Fiendfyre. The hot flames curling against her robes, Shadow Weaver succumbing to the flames...Adora’s sturdy back that Catra clinged onto as they escaped the Room of Requirement. _I told you, I don't enjoy anything anymore so you can't make me,_ she thinks. 

‘No thanks.’ Catra says instead. ‘I’ll see you around.’

She darts down the corridor, but when she turns a corner strong hands shove her into a door. The knob digs into her spine before giving way to a storage cupboard. 

In the darkness she blinks in confusion, to see two glowing blue eyes in the room with her. 

It’s She-Ra again. 

‘What, you think you deserved all the attention and praise? That you’d ever amount to anything except being a filthy criminal?’ She-Ra mocks.

‘No-no, I…’ 

‘I defeated Horde Prime, what did _you_ do? Oh, right!’ The apparition laughs wickedly. ‘You had the nerve to doubt me, the _Savior’s_ intentions. I’m actually _good_ , unlike you.’ 

‘I’m sorry.’ Catra says, before she is roughly pushed onto the wooden table in the cramped room. She knocks over a box labelled as lost property and a mop. 

'Strip.' 

Catra's eyes widen incredulously. 'What?' 

'Now.' 

She-Ra closes the door, blocking the exit. Her large stature towers over Catra. 

Catra reluctantly unbuttons her uniform top, slowly shedding her robes. She shivers slightly as she takes off her shirt, her skin getting goosebumps from the cold air. 

‘Is this enough?’

‘Was your Azkaban sentence enough?’

Catra suppresses a sigh. She gladly takes off the tie, considering what happened last time. The brunette unzips her skirt, and it pools around her feet. Catra unclips her bra, and it joins the rest of her clothes on the ground. Soon she only had her black stockings left. 

She-Ra nodded approvingly. 

'Leave them on.' 

The hallucination grazes her fingers over the sheer material. She-Ra lowers herself to her knees, kissing her foot then her ankle fervently. Catra can feel the hot breath on her skin, and her nails dig into the wooden table. 

'Good girl.' She-Ra purrs. 

Catra shivers in suppressed delight, rarely was she ever subjected to compliments. By anyone, let alone the usually hostile apparition. The rare approval gives her a flash of hope at being forgiven. 

She-Ra started to bite through the fabric, leaving hickeys as she worked her way up her leg. 

Catra squeaked at the first bite, her toes curling in pain and pleasure. 

She-ras sharp teeth starts to tear holes in the stockings, ripping them and licking the flesh there. Catra squirms, her breath getting heavy. 

Suddenly there's a sharp knock on the closet door. 

'Catra?' 

Catra freezes, but her hallucination does not. In fact it hardly seems to register with her as She-Ra bites her innermost thigh. 

'Ah! Don't come in!' 

'What are you doing in there?' Adora calls out. She sounds worried. ‘I’m sorry I made you angry in Potions. Are you avoiding me?’ 

Fake She-ra cups her hand around Catra's mouth, muffling her moans. In the same swift motion she puts her knee roughly in between Catra's legs. The hard pressure makes her feel hot all over, her cheeks and body aflame. 

'Mnnh!' 

She-ra shoves her fingers into her mouth, gagging her. 

'Shut up.' She-Ra hisses in her ear. 

Catra squirms around her fingers. She tries to control her ragged breathing. 

Adora knocks again. 'Catra, please come out-' 

She sees the knob turn, and her heart rate spikes up. If Adora saw her practically naked and in this compromising position, she would actually die of shame. 

She-Ra notices the fearful look on her face and gives a wicked grin. Suddenly Catra is shoved towards the door, just as it opens. 

'Ah!' 

She-Ra waves mockingly and promptly vanishes. Catra falls out of the supply closet into Adora's arms. 

'Wh- Catra?!' 

Catra freezes in mortification. She looks down, and Adora is also staring back at her in shock. Catra can hear people coming down the corridor, so in one swift movement she drags Adora by her red and gold necktie back into the closet. 

Adora is gaping at her, mouth opening and closing like a fish. She looks at her up and down, at Catra's exposed chest and torn up black sheer stockings. 

'W-w-why are you…?' Adora stutters, blushing furiously. 

Somehow Adora's blatant nervousness compared to She-ra's dominance made her feel in control of the situation again. 

'I was getting changed.' Catra lies. 

'In the supply closet?' 

'Well I can't get changed in the bathroom.' Catra says defensively. 'There's people there.' 

'Why are you getting changed?' Adora asks. 

Catra quickly scans across the room, spotting a uniform in the knocked over Lost Property bin. 

'Changing into Quidditch robes. You wanted a match, right?' Catra swiftly grabs the uniform, quickly donning the undershirt. She bends over to put the pants on over her stockings, she didn't want Adora seeing the hickeys underneath. Adora has the decency to look away. 

'I thought you didn't want to-' 

Catra dismisses her questions with a lazy wave. 'Scared you'll lose, Adora?' She grins as she puts on the red robe. It was a damn Gryffindor Quidditch uniform. 

Adora seems to notice this, getting increasingly flustered. 'Wha- You wish!' 

Could always rely on Adora's competitive side as a distraction. 

'I'll race you to the pitch.' 

'I don't even have my gear on- wait isn't that my uniform that I lost-' 

Catra sticks out her tongue. 'Be there or be square.' She playfully shoves her out of the way, Adora gives an indignant squeak. 

'You're on!' 


	4. Chapter 4

As agreed, they have a Chasers match just the two of them. They race each other through the sky, performing impossible maneuvers in an attempt to show off. Catra at one point even does a handstand on her broom, performing different kinds of Quidditch gymnastics through the air. 

  
Adora zips past her, robes flapping in the wind. When she flies upwards the light catches her golden hair, causing a glowing halo around her. Catra can’t help but stare helplessly. 

The snitch flutters in Adora’s fist.   
  


‘Best of 3!’ Catra pouts. Adora just sticks her tongue out at her. 

‘Guys!’  
  


She looks down, they have an audience. Bow and Glimmer are watching them from the pitch. Adora flies back down to the freshly mown grass to greet them, Catra lagging behind. 

'That was some brilliant flying!' Bow says admirably. 'Both of you. Isn't that right, Glimmer?' 

'Hmph.' Glimmer shoots a glare at Catra.   
  


Bow ignores her. ‘We definitely need to play a game together. I’ll round up some Beaters and Chasers, I’ll be Keeper.’  
  


‘That sounds fun! What do you think Catra, next round with more players?’

‘Um.’ Catra looks at Adora and then back at Glimmer.   
  


‘Come on, one more match. Scared I’ll win again?’ Adora grins. 

Catra rolls her eyes. ‘Yeah right. Fine.’

Bow managed to wrangle Frosta, Mermista as Beaters, SeaHawk, and Perfuma as Chasers. This seemed to attract the attention of the current Ravenclaw team that Spinnerella and Netossa were on, who agreed to play against them to learn from the 8th years. 

Adora seems to notice Catra’s obvious discomfort at going against her friend group, and Adora offers to play Seeker to the Ravenclaw team to level the playing field.   
  


The practice match starts, and the Quaffle is thrown in the air. 

The two Seekers fly side by side, knocking against each other playfully in their hunt for the Snitch. Catra and Adora weave through the bannisters under the pitch, reliving their old days when they were rivals.   
  


Adora spots a flash of gold and swoops upwards, and Catra is hot on her tail as she flies after her. They climb higher and higher into the clouds. 

SeaHawk takes aim and bats the Bludger towards the goal, but his arm gets knocked back by one of the Ravenclaws. 

The Bludger comes hurtling towards Glimmer, who is too distracted by the rivalling Chasers to notice. 

Catra sees this happening in slow motion, and she flies in front of Glimmer before she's hit by the Bludger. The impact knocks Catra off her broom and she goes tumbling down from the sky. 

There’s a loud whooshing in her ears as her vision spins.   
  


_‘Arresto Momentum!’_

Adora casts a wandless cushioning charm just in time. 

Catra feels her body slow and instead of getting squashed like a pancake, she roughly tumbles across the ground a few metres above. 

Unfortunately she can feel her wrist dislocate at the impact, and she winces in pain as she grips her arm. Glimmer flies down after her.   
  


‘Catra! Are you okay?’ Adora shouts, jumping off her broom to attend to Catra. 

'You didn't have to do that!' Glimmer says, panicked. ‘Why did you-’   
  


'I- my body moved by itself.' Catra admitted. Her heart beats fast, surprised at being alive. 

Adora shakes her head. 'Let's get you to Madam Razz.' She helps Catra up, a steady hand on her shoulder. 

\----

When Catra wakes up, the first thing she sees is Glimmer. The pink haired girl is sitting on a chair next to the bed in the Hospital Wing. 

'You suicidal idiot. How's your arm?'   
  


'I'm sorry about your mother.' Catra bursts out suddenly. She hadn’t meant to say it, but her guilt has been eating at her for so long.   
  


Glimmer pauses.

'Really? Even though you tried to kill her to save your own skin?' 

Catra looks away in shame. 'I couldn't do it. She was kind, she offered me protection and- I was going to take it. But Shadow Weaver...sorry I don't want to deflect blame, I really am sorry.' 

Glimmer breathes a sigh. 'It's been tough on all of us. My mother planned out her own death, in the end. She knew she was already dying from the cursed Horcrux. You couldn't help it, we were all just children fighting in a grown up's war.' 

  
'At least you were on the right side of it.' Catra says wryly, getting up into a sitting position. 

Glimmer scoffs, before biting her lip. 

'...Thanks for saving me from getting hit. I shouldn't have taken my grief on you when the War is already over. We should move on from the past.' 

  
Catra stares down at her lap. 

'What if…I can't move on?'   
  


Glimmer softens. She doesn’t speak for a while, mulling something over. 

'I fought with Adora and Bow, when we were hunting for Horcruxes in 7th year. I did and said some horrible things.' 

_  
One of the Golden Trio doing something bad? _ Catra thinks in surprise.   
  


'But I think it's having the courage to apologize and make amends without expecting to be forgiven or only doing it to alleviate your conscience that matters. It's the sincerity and the willingness to change into a better person.'   
  


'I...I see.' She's never thought about it that way. 

There’s a beat of silence before Glimmer breaks it.  


'Truce?' 

'Truce.' 

Glimmer grins. 'Good. After hitting rock bottom, there's only one way to go and that's up.' 

'Heaven?' Catra says playfully before Glimmer smacks her. 'Kidding! I don't believe in heaven.' 

'Adora told me the afterlife is a white Kings Cross Station.'   


They talk for a while after that, about their adventures during 7th year. As Glimmer talks about riding a dragon into Gringotts, Catra thinks for the first time things might actually be okay. 

\----- 

Adora catches her sealing a stack of envelopes on her poster bed. Catra sits in the middle of the circle of letters, meticulously melting the wax and stamping them.   
  


'What's this?' Adora asks, looking over curiously. 

'Apology letters.'   
  


A few months ago it had started as a suicide note, but then the list of people she had to apologize to got too long. It didn't seem right, so she had penned individual, personalized letters. 

'That's really good of you, Catra.' Adora smiles. 

  
'Here's yours.' Catra says, passing over one of the sealed envelopes. 

Adora's eyes widen in shock, but she takes it and immediately starts opening the wax seal. 

'Don't read it in front of me!' Catra swats her in embarrassment. 

Adora laughs, fending off Catra's mortified blows.   
  


'Wow this is so long!' Her smile trails off as she continues reading, until her face turns somber. 

Suddenly Catra is pulled into a warm hug. She blinks in the embrace, confused.   
  


'Hey. I forgive you, you know that right?' Adora says hoarsely.   
  


Catra swallows. She slowly reaches upwards and hugs her back. 

They don't speak, they just stay simply holding each other, both afraid to let go. 

\--

The next day Scorpia comes barrelling towards her down the corridor and Catra braces herself for impact. 

Scorpia sweeps her into a hug, lifting her up to her shoulders. 

The old her would've scrambled to get away, but now she realizes how much she missed this.   
  


'Missed ya, buddy.' Scorpia smiles affectionately, like she had read her mind. 

They walk to class together, chatting about their subjects and their assignments.   
  


A few days after she hand delivers the letters to everyone, people start talking to her again. It starts off small, like Entrapta asking about tips for Potions until she got comfortable enough to steamroll into a 30 minute rant about implementing Muggle technology into the wizarding world. 

  
'There is no need to Owl letters when Muggles have this technology called phones! You can receive messages instantaneously via something called text messages. Of course Hogwarts has this frequency that blocks Muggle technology but I'm inventing something to circumvent that.'   
  


'There's something nice about a handwritten letter though.' 

'That's true. Yours was very sincere. Thank you.' 

  
Catra looks at her in surprise, she didn't expect to be forgiven so easily. She wants to thank her, but decides the best way was to talk to her in Entrapta's language and get over old prejudices about blood purity. 

  
'How about we get two of those Muggle telephone things and I'll help you test it out?'

'YOU'D DO THAT?!' Entrapta gasps in excitement, eyes sparkling. 'Oh this is so exciting! Come with me to Muggle London, there's a load of pawn shops we can get materials from.' 

  
'Sure.' 

Adora sees them talking as she walks by with Glimmer, and she gives Catra a cheeky thumbs up. Catra smiles hesitatingly back. 

Now that she's walking with Scorpia and Entrapta or Bow, Glimmer and Adora to classes, the other students that used to bully her have backed off. She had even sent a box of chocolate frogs and flowers to the boy whose brother died in the War. He never responded, but he and his posse had stopped bothering her after that. 

Even Kyle, Rogelio and Lonnie had started speaking to her again. 

Kyle was a whiz at Herbology and Catra listened to his ramblings during class. He had glowed up significantly, he was now regarded as a war hero after finishing off the last Horcrux with just a sword. Turned out he had been sorted into Gryffindor for a reason.   
  


She had forgotten how nice it was to have friends. The hallucination hasn't bothered her since that time after Potions, and she can feel herself relaxing. Fake Adora didn't bother her when there were people around.   
  


One day Adora suggests going to Hogsmeade. ‘They have this amazing dessert place that just opened up known for their donuts.' Adora says. 'I thought you'd like to try them.' 

Catra wonders when it would be the right time to tell her she didn't actually like donuts, it was just what she found in the dumpster at the time.   
  


'Okay. Are Bow and Glimmer coming too?' 

Bow and Glimmer share a knowing look with Adora, who flusters and makes several hand gestures. Catra looks at her in confusion, but Adora pretends that she wasn’t doing anything. 

  
‘No, we’ll sit this one out. Have fun, you two!’ Glimmer winks at Adora.

‘We will!’ Adora says, pulling Catra away from the pair. 

‘What’s up with her?’

‘Nothing! It’s just Glimmer being Glimmer.’   
  


They head down the path to Hogsmeade, and on the way they pass the newly opened Madam Malkin's. 

‘Wanna shop here? I see you wearing her designs a lot.’  
  


'Oh I don’t buy anything. I just look at the designs and transfigure my robes to look like the ones in the window.' Catra explains. 

'What!’ Adora looks aghast at the thought of Catra still wearing the robes that time she found her in Diagon Alley. ‘No, we're getting you new robes. My treat.' 

'You don't have to do that. Look at yourself, you wear the same damn red jacket everywhere.' 

Adora grins. 'Pick some out for me, then.' Catra rolls her eyes, and they walk into the shop. 

Adora makes Catra try on a few outfits, and admittedly it was nice to have something that wasn’t falling apart for once. Catra insists Adora try on some robes too, and they have fun trying out different parts of the collection. 

Adora falls out of the changing room in a frilly purple outfit that made her look like a jester. It even had bells and offensive stripes.   
  


'Wha- What is that?!' Catra snorts incredulously. 

'Hey I think it looks good!' As Adora steps towards her, she actually _jingles_. 

  
Catra bursts out into laughter. 

Adora looks back at her, dazed. She has a small smile on her face as she watches Catra. 

  
'What?' Catra says, feeling self conscious. 

'Nothing. I just think you look nice when you're laughing, that's all.' Adora grins. 'I'll get this after all.' 

'That abomination?' 

'Yup, and the others you picked for me. I also got you some new robes, don't you worry.' 

A shop assistant starts packing the heap of clothes, and they magically shrink to fit in the bag. 

'Thanks.' Catra says, embarrassed. ‘You really didn’t have to.’

‘I wanted to. Now let’s go get some food!’ 

They have a hearty lunch at the pub, and go to Honeydukes for some sweets. The whole time they chatter about everything and anything, like they had resumed their friendship from before Hogwarts and were just two old friends catching up. It felt nice, having a steady presence by her side. Sadly the universe liked to challenge that notion. 

\----

It starts off uneventfully. They're the last ones in the common room, a warm fire flickering in the hearth. The other 8th years had gone to bed long ago, so they were alone seated opposite each other on an armchair and on the couch studying. 

Catra is talking about their Divination assignment ('How on earth am I supposed to write a three page essay on dreams?') when Adora breaks the peace. 

'Hey Catra.'   
  


'Hmm?' The brunette taps the quill into the inkpot. She wonders if writing about a Hippogriff eating her homework would be a good essay topic. 

'I like you.' 

Catra drops her quill, spilling the ink all over her parchment. She slowly looks up, her heart plummeting to her stomach. 

'Huh?' 

Adora's gaze is steady, and with a shock Catra realizes her apparition must've swapped places with Adora when she wasn't paying attention. The real Adora would never say that. 

'What are you saying?' Catra asks hesitantly. 

'I meant, I love you.' Adora emphasizes, a warm flush spreading on her cheeks. 'Romantically.' 

This couldn't be. This had to be her hallucination, another mind trick. There was no other explanation for it.   
  


'That's not true.' Catra says flatly. 'You're lying. You don't have to put up the charade.' 

'I'm not!' Adora insists. 'What are you talking about?' 

Catra in her panic throws down her parchment, fear swirling in her gut. Reality and her sick imagination was blurring together, she couldn't tell who was real or fake anymore. It was so much harder to tell them apart when Fake Adora wasn't in her She-Ra form. She usually could tell them apart when Adora broke character. 

'Why are you doing this?' Catra accuses. 'I've been trying to repay my debts, I've done everything you've asked of me! Haven't you had enough?' 

'Catra!' Adora gets up, her palms up like trying to soothe a wild animal. 'It's not like that.' The blonde inches closer, hand extending-   
  


'Stay away from me! I don't- I don't deserve this!' Catra shocks herself at her own bravery. She's never stood up to Fake Adora like this before. 

A flash of hurt crosses Adora's face. 'You don't mean that.'   
  


'Don't ever show up in front of me again.' Catra hisses venomously. A flash of pride hits her as Adora backs off. 

Catra storms out of the common room, running up the spiralling staircase and into her poster bed. She spells the curtains shut, and chants every single incantation she can possibly think of.   
  


Of course the hallucination had to show up and give her false hope. Just as everything was going so well between her and the real Adora. 


	5. Chapter 5

The morning rays pierce through her windows, waking her up. Catra shifts her way to a sitting position, yawning. Adora isn't in her poster bed next to her- that was odd. Normally Catra was the early riser and Adora had to be dragged out of her comforter. 

  
Regardless, she gets dressed and heads down to the Great Hall. She spots the blonde eating by herself on the edge of the tables. 

'Hey Adora.' Catra plonks down next to her as usual, yawning. She grabs a bagel and some butter, eager to dig into breakfast. 

  
Adora jolts in surprise, looking up from her plate of muffins and bacon. She looks ashen, eye bags bruising her usually perfect face. 

Catra raises an eyebrow. 'Jeez, what happened? Tough night?' 

  
The other girl looks at her incredulously. 'Excuse me?' 

'Yeesh, don't bite my head off.' Catra rolls her eyes. 'Let's go to the bar in Hogsmeade later, I really want a butterbeer. Merlin knows you need it.' 

  
'What's up with you?' Adora says. She looks angry. 

Catra falters. 'Huh?' She glances back at the students behind her. That meant this Adora was real, but she had the same look on her face as her Other.   
  


'Have you been Obliviated? Amnesia?' Adora demands.   
  


'What? No?'   
  


'You acted like nothing happened when we kissed the first day back! Now you're doing it again! If you don't like me just say so!'

  
Catra looks around, the students around them are staring at the both of them. 

'Huh? What are you talking about? We've never kissed?' Catra hisses. 

  
'Yes we did! You pulled me into your bed-'

'Dude lower your voice!' 

'And yesterday! You told me to stay away from you, and now you're acting like-'   
  


Catra's eyes widen.  _ Oh god. Yesterday's Adora was real. _ She had fucked up immensely, now she looked like a callous asshole rejecting the Savior of the Wizarding World. 

  
'I- I didn't think-' Catra stutters, a loss for words. 

  
'That I was serious?' 

Catra gapes at her. She could hardly wrap her head around it, that Adora would like someone like her. Scratch that, how was she going to explain fake Adora? 

  
Hell, she didn't even know her  _ own _ feelings towards Adora, everything was so confusing regarding her. Catra had no idea how to respond to a confession. There were a billion reasons why it was a terrible idea in the first place.   
  


Catra must've stayed silent for too long because Adora just breathes out an exasperated sigh. 

‘Honestly-’  
  


‘There's two of you.’ Catra bursts out. 

‘Huh?’ 

  
'Well there's  _ you _ and there's a fake version of you in my head, she forces me down and tries to throw me off buildings. Except she somehow has like, a physical form so maybe it's not entirely in my head? Though I'm not sure how she followed me from Azkaban- Anyway she's always telling me terrible things and that’s why I yelled at you last night. Sorry.’ 

  
Adora looks gobsmacked. 'Are you making this up to reject me?'   
  


'You don't believe me. I knew this would happen.’  


'Perhaps you should see a Mind Healer if you're seeing double…'  
  


'You think I'm crazy, don't you.’ Catra says flatly.   
  


'I didn't mean it that way! Just that you should get some help-' 

  
‘ _ You're _ the mental one for wanting to be with someone like me! You’re my  _ parole officer  _ for Merlin’s sake!’ Catra snaps. She pulls up her sleeve to reveal her Dark Mark, as if to make a point. ‘Your reputation would plummet! The Prophet would have a field day, ‘Ex Death Eater tricks She-Ra into a relationship to get out of Azkaban!!’  
  


‘I don’t care about the press, I care about you! What’s wrong with that?’

‘What’s wrong with-  _ You’re She-Ra! _ You’re supposed to be out killing evil wizards and witches like  _ me! _ The princess doesn’t end up with the crazy war criminal that’s soon to be found dead or in St Mungo’s in a straitjacket! Actually I  _ should _ be dead, but you saved me for what?! To sleep with me!?’ Catra says hysterically.   
  


‘No!’ Adora cries out, distraught. People were definitely staring now. 

  
Catra presses her palms to her eyelids. ‘I- I can’t think right now.’ She stands up abruptly and flees the oppressive stares from the Great Hall. 

'Catra! Wait!' 

‘Well  _ that  _ went well.’ Glimmer remarks. 

\----- 

Fake Adora shoves her against a wall in the dungeons. ‘You actually think I like you?’ She hisses loudly. ‘How conceited can you get?!’   
  


‘Get away from me!’ Catra shouts, kicking her back. She draws her wand, but Fake Adora grabs her wrists, squeezing until Catra’s wand clatters to the cobblestone floor. 

  
‘You used to be so obedient. I need to teach you a lesson.’ The apparition grabs her by the chin and forces her into a kiss.   
  


Catra bites down on Fake Adora’s lip,  _ hard.  _

‘Agh!’ Adora lets go, touching her now bleeding mouth. ‘You mangy little street cat!’ 

  
‘Who even  _ are _ you?  _ What  _ are you!?’ Catra shouts. She’s prepared to claw the imposter’s eyes out with just her nails if she had to. 

‘You’ll never find out.  _ Honorem Grayskull!’  _

  
She-Ra grabs her by the neck, effectively putting her in a chokehold. Catra scrabbles helplessly at the pressure around her windpipe.   
  


_ Oh great, so this is how it ends for me doesn’t it? Survived a whole war, a crazy dictator and prison, only to get killed by a hallucination at school.  _

Adora bursts into the dungeon, just as Catra’s vision was shuttering to black.   
  


‘I heard screaming- WHAT WHO IS THAT!?’ 

She-Ra lets go, and Catra falls to a crumpled heap to the floor.

Catra gasps, clutching her throat. ‘You can see her?!’   
  


Before Adora can get another word out, She-Ra’s form suddenly spins, shifting into a giant cockroach, a dementor, even Horde Prime, before transforming into Adora’s biggest fear. 

  
It’s Catra, except she’s covered in blood and her body is mangled. Like she had fallen from a great height.   
  


Catra watches in horror as her double limps towards Adora, who had frozen in place.

  
‘Why didn’t you save me? Did you let me die because I didn’t return your feelings?’ Fake Catra asks. ‘Hey Adora…’  
  


Adora stays rooted to the spot, face contorted in horror. 

Realization dawns on Catra. ‘Don’t listen to her Adora, it’s a boggart!’   
  


This seems to startle Adora out of her trance. She draws out her wand and yells _ ‘Riddikulus!’  _

  
The boggart shifts to Catra’s lifeless body, with a glowing orb floating above her mouth about to be given the Dementor’s Kiss. ‘Riddikulus!’ It's now Catra’s limbs broken in several ways next to the shattered pieces of a broom.  
  


‘R-riddikulus!’ Catra’s back is hexed open by gashes and bruises, her Dark Mark hacked out of her skin. She's lying in a pool of blood surrounded by a group of faceless boys. ‘RIDDIKULUS!’ Catra’s emaciated body next to a dumpster in Diagon Alley. 

Adora falls to her knees, tears running down her face. 

The real Catra snatches her wand off the ground. In third year, their professor had told them that the incantation and wand movement alone would not affect a Boggart, only laughter could make it vanish. 

_ I can't, I don't have happy memories- _   
  


But that wasn't true anymore was it? Catra had friends now, people had forgiven her. 

She played Quidditch in the summer rain, she sent texts to Entrapta on the 'telly phone' in a Muggle shop, she was the top of her Potions class. Scorpia gave her the last dessert portion at dinner, Rogelio challenged her to an arm wrestling match and she had won. Bow would play Exploding Snap with her in the common room, and Glimmer would scream/sing karaoke songs with her at the pub. 

Most importantly, she had Adora by her side now.   
  


The boggart spins around, and transforms again into Adora. She advances towards her, her face twisted in a snarl. 

‘How could I ever love someone like you?’

Catra takes a deep breath, holding the image of Adora in her mind. ‘ _ RIDDIKULUS!’ _

  
The boggart spins, changing into the Adora from Hogsmeade, dressed in the purple jester outfit. 

She steps threateningly towards her, but this only causes the bells on her clothes to jingle like Father Christmas. 

Catra laughs in amazement, breathless. The boggart reels back in horror at the sound, stumbling awkwardly.

Catra waves her wand in a whip crack motion, banishing the boggart to an empty wardrobe in the room. Her breaths even out, her heart jackhammering with something like pride. 

Adora comes rushing over, skidding across her knees to envelop Catra into a bone crushing hug. ‘You did it!’ She sobs, nuzzling into Catra’s hair. ‘I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you earlier.’

‘I’m sorry too, for saying those things. And your- your Boggart. I had no idea it affected you this badly.’ 

‘How could it not!?’ Adora weeps. ‘You were literally going to kill yourself that night I found you on the Astronomy Tower.'   
  


‘I mean that was the Boggart-’

  
‘Don’t tell me you didn’t deliberately take that hit for Glimmer. You told me in your sleep the first night that you were sorry for not being dead.’ 

Catra purses her lips in guilt. Adora’s biggest fear was Catra dying and here she was, trying to kill herself at every turn. She had spared no thought to Adora’s feelings, thinking if she had died it would be doing all of them a huge favour.   
  


‘I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.’ 

‘Promise?’

‘I promise.’  
  


They smile at each other, and Catra belatedly realizes they’re holding hands. Adora’s eyes widen comically at this, and she quickly snatches her hand away in embarassment. 

  
‘S-sorry! My feelings for you, if they make you feel uncomfortable-’  
  


‘Adora.’  
  


‘Y-yeah?’  
  


‘It's probably gonna be a long time before I can fully trust again.’ Catra says slowly. ‘I'm gonna fuck up a lot and unintentionally hurt you.’   
  


‘I know.’  
  


‘And physical contact will remind me of her.’   
  


‘I know.’  
  


‘But I'm willing to try. Um. To be a better person, and someone that’s good enough for you. If you’re willing to wait…then maybe one day...’

Adora’s eyes soften as she takes Catra’s hands again. ‘You  _ are _ good enough for me. But if that’s what you think you need, I’d wait forever for you.'

\----

Catra started seeing a Mind Healer, despite her previous reservations of getting help. She was gradually learning that it was okay to ask for help sometimes. They discovered signs of spell damage and she got treated for that, as well as weekly therapy sessions.   
  


The boggart was banished from the castle for good, and an investigation was being done for them in Azkaban.

‘I can’t believe I made out with a  _ boggart _ .’ Catra says in disgust. They're up late again, chatting in Adora's poster bed. A box of chocolate cauldrons lay between them, half eaten. 

‘You what!?’ Adora squeaks.   


'Don't get jealous. It had your face.' Catra shoves a pillow into Adora's pouting expression. 

'That's the problem! It should've been me.' Adora mumbles. 

  
Catra snorts. ‘When did you start liking me anyway? I had no idea.' 

‘I’ve always liked you! Ever since we were kids! I gave you that Valentine's Day rose and you ripped it up.' 

  
‘That was- you handed me the missing ingredient! How was I supposed to know?’ 

‘Plus that time you were naked except for stockings, that nearly killed me. What were you even doing?’

‘Boggart. You don’t want to know.’

‘I hate that boggarts are amortal. That thing deserves to be dead for that.’ Adora complains. She gets up from the poster bed and starts tidying up the chocolates. ‘Anyway I should go back to my own bed.’

  
Catra pauses, arm outstretched. Adora blinks in confusion.   
  


'Just- stay here. It's fine.' Catra says awkwardly. ‘It’s big enough for the both of us.’   
  


‘A-are you sure?’ Adora looks around, like she’s being punked. 

  
‘Yes I’m sure. No, I’m not an imposter- don’t look at me like that.’   
  


‘You tried to riddikulus me yesterday for no reason.’ Adora says pointedly.   
  


‘I had to make sure. Told you I have trust issues.’ Catra pulls Adora into bed with her by her hand, but doesn’t let go. A minute passes with Adora’s irregular breathing and sweaty palms.  
  


‘Calm down. I can hear your heartbeat from here.’   
  


‘You’re too close!’ Adora says frantically.   
  


‘Do you want me to go?’  
  


_ ‘N-no!’  _

‘For Merlin’s sake you two, shut up!’ Glimmer shouts from the next bed over. ‘Some of us are trying to sleep here!’   
‘Next time cast a Muffliato before you bang. It’s human decency.’ Lonnie calls out from across the dormitory.   
  


‘We are not banging!’ They both yell in unison.   
  


‘Oh cute. They’re in sync.’ 

\------

Every day Catra loosed up a bit more, like bricks being chipped away from a wall. She laughed more frequently, she made more memories and she even started making plans for after graduation.  
  


Adora and Catra with the help of Entrapta stayed up late at night drafting Azkaban reforms.

The goal was war reconciliation, treating ex Death Eaters terribly would just involve them relapsing back to their old ways. They drew up plans of outlawing the use of Dementors as guards and banishing the death penalty.   
  


Catra also proposed better conditions for the inmates, with regular food and water (Adora looked horrified she had gone through that) as well as the freedom to exercise and educate themselves while they were in there.   
  


She even drafted an integration program, designed for inmates who have gotten out to transition more smoothly into society and reduce suicide rates and chances of them recommitting. Adora glowed in pride of Catra’s intelligence and empathy. Bit by bit, she was healing.

\-------

_ One Year Later _

Bow and Glimmer invite them for brunch at the Leaky Cauldron to celebrate Catra’s parole ending.

Their friends were running late, so Catra napped on Adora’s shoulder as they waited for them to arrive.   
  


‘Aren’t you guys adorable.’ Glimmer says, making a mock kissy face at Adora.

  
‘Knock it off.’ Adora replies, patting Catra’s hair affectionately. ‘It’s not like that.’ 

‘Sure it isn’t. You guys are practically married. I'm begging you guys please just make it official.' 

'Me and Catra are just friends. Right, Bow?' 

'Sorry, I'm with Glimmer. This has been going on for so long that even  _ The Prophet _ wants you guys together.' 

That part was true. At first there was a media shitstorm when word got out that the Adora had testified for a Death Eater she was friends with. But then student testimonials about their now super close relationship started getting published.   
  


'I saw them holding hands, once. But they insist they're just friends.' A male student at Hogwarts claimed. 'Im 99% sure they're banging though.' 

  
'I shared a dorm with them.' An unnamed Gryffindor said. 'When one of them has a nightmare the other crawls into their bed until they fall asleep.'   
  


'During breakfast last year Catra started yelling they couldn't be together cause she was a death eater and the public would never accept it. But honestly no one really cares, so. She-Ra saved the wizarding world, she can date whoever she wants.'   
  


'Adoras always liked her. I watched her get shot down at the Yule Ball in 4th year. Even though they had different dates they spent the whole time antagonising each other. They even danced together. It was hilarious.' 

'They live together now as 'roommates.' Pretty sure they've been dating for ages and are just keeping things private.' 

Adora and Catra had moved into Grimmauld Place a few months ago. Catra had insisted on redecorating the place, and they had spent weeks cleaning and replacing furniture and curtains. Perfuma had even dropped in and given them a beautiful collection of plants to liven up the place.   
  


Catra yawns, stirring from her nap. 

'Oh hey guys. You're late.'   
  


'Hey sleepyhead. Congratulations, you're a free woman again. You won't have this one breathing down your neck.' Glimmer gestures at Adora. 

'I sincerely doubt that.' Catra grins, smacking Adora's chest. 'She's clingier than a Devil's Snare.' 

'Are you sure you're not talking about yourself?' Adora laughs.   
  


'Gross. Get a room, you two.' 

Adora rolls her eyes. 'I'll go get us some drinks. What do ya'll want?'   
  


'Chocolate liqueur and Dragon Barrel Brandy for me and Bow, thanks.'   
  


'Firewhiskey for me.' Catra says. 

Adora gives them a thumbs up then leaves to approach the bar. She passes over 4 galleons to their bartender as she gives her order.  
  


As she's waiting for the drinks to be poured, a buff woman with long white hair named Huntara strikes up a conversation with her.   
  


'You're She-Ra.' She says in amazement.   
  


'Um. Yeah.' It always felt awkward having strangers approach her as the 'Chosen one.' They didn't know her as just Adora.   
  


'You're legendary. Let me pay for your drinks as a thank you for defeating You-know-who.' 

  
Adora cocks an eyebrow. Huntara could just say Horde Prime, the dude was well and truly dead. She made sure of that. 

'That's okay, you don't have to. I'm kind of here with someone.' 

'A girlfriend?' 

'N-not exactly…Just some friends.' 

'Then it's no problem then. I'm sure they won't mind if I steal you away for a bit.' Huntara winks. 

'Umm…'   
  


A touch to her arm startles Adora. It's Catra, and she has a poisonous smile on her face, gaze fixated on Huntara. 

'I was wondering what was taking so long. This person bothering you?'   
  


Huntara frowns. 'You that Death Eater from the news?'   


_ 'EX _ Death Eater.' Catra snarls back. 'Sorry Adora doesn't want to deal with  _ fans _ right now.' 

Huntara looks like she had inhaled a pile of dragon dung. 

'Isn't that right honey?' Catra kisses Adora on the cheek. It's nothing but a quick peck, but Adora turns red as her old Gryffindor uniform. 

'Y-yeah. Sorry. I can sign an autograph for you, if you want.'   
  


Catra snorts at this, and Huntara gets up angrily. 'That won't be necessary. Goodbye.' 

Catra sticks her tongue out at her retreating back. Adora gasps comically as this, which is met by Catra's laughter. 

\---- 

As they're walking to the Apparition point to get home, Catra brings up the incident at the bar. 

'Aren't you popular! The second I let you out of my sight you get assaulted by needy fans.' Catra teases. 'Lucky you have me to rescue you.'   
  


'My hero.' Adora pretends to swoon.   
  


'That idiot doesn't know you'd rather die than abandon your friends. She doesn't know you at all.'   
  


'But really, you didn't have to pretend to-'  
  


'I like you.' Catra interrupts. 

'I- Really?' Adora smiles blindingly. She blinks like she can't believe it. 'You're serious? You like me?'   
  


'Love you, actually.' Catra amends. 'I think it was pretty obvious.'   
  


Adora lets out a euphoric squeal, and punches the air. She bounces up and down like an excited Pygmy Puff. Adora feels like she had won a thousand House Cups, or slayed a Basilisk. 

'Had that in your system for a while, didn't you?'   
  


'For around a decade, yes. Can I kiss you? Please?'   
  


Catra grabs Adora by the robes and plants a sweet kiss on her lips. Adora melts into it, and she can't stop grinning.   
  


'Gosh, I feel like I've been confunded. Are you sure you're not part Veela?' Adora rambles. 

'They have white hair, so no.'   
  


'Ahh, I can’t believe you’re mine now. It’s like a dream.’ 

'I'm already yours. I always have been.' Catra replies.

  
Adora grins. She takes Catra's hand in hers, and they apparate home.    
  


FIN

**Author's Note:**

> drop a comment!


End file.
